El Salvador: deported US migrants describe torture in mega jail

252 Venezuelans deported from the USA have returned to their homeland as part of a prisoner exchange. They were locked up in El Salvador in the notorious Cecot prison, which holds up to 40,000 prisoners.

Some of them publicly tell which Tortur they have lived there. They report forced measures, violence and poor conditions of detention. The prisoners spent four months in the high -security prison.

“You were beaten around the clock,” said Maikel Olivera, one of the former prisoners, the AFP news agency. “They told us: You will rot here, you will stay here for 300 years.” In the “Washington Post”, three other Venezuelans described how they were abused in prison.

One of the prisoners told the newspaper that he had been led into a darkened room several times. There he was beaten, kicked and insulted. According to his own statements, a 22-year-old was abused so badly that he lost half a molar. For more than a month he had to wait for pain relievers and medical treatment.

The government of US President Donald Trump had deported the Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador because they allegedly belonged to the criminal organization Tren de Aragua. The men initially thought that they were transported to Venezuela, one of the “Washington Post” reported. But her flight ended up in El Salvador, where they had already been treated brutally at the airport: “The whole horror film started there.”

In prison, they would have had to kneel on the floor for hours while keeping weapons on them, a former prisoner said. “I felt like an animal,” he told the “Washington Post”. “The guards treated us like the worst criminals in the world. They shaved our heads, insulted us, led us around like dogs.”

According to their own statements, the prisoners were accommodated in cells with nine to 15 people, they had to sleep on metal benches. Only a bucket with water was ready to drink and washing. Overall, the hygienic conditions were bad. The prisoners also reported that the guards had attacked them with rubber floors. There is also talk of sexual assault.

The US government continues to claim that the deported migrants are members of criminal gangs. However, she remains guilty of evidence of this. The former prisoners, with whom the “Washington Post” spoke, contest any connections to gangs.

El Salvador recorded hundreds of deported migrants from the USA in March and housed in the Cecot prison. In return, US President Trump sends million sums to the Central American country.

Venezuela has announced an investigation into the allegations of torture in El Salvador. A formal examination will be initiated, said Attorney General Tarek William Saab. He asked the International Criminal Court, the UN Human Rights Council and other “relevant organizations in America and the world” to follow the example of Venezuelas.

Sources: ,, news agency AFP